398 PHYTOPHAGA. 



to assist ; the anterior legs are of a fulvo-piceous colour, the hinder tibiae alone being 

 fulvous. 



11. Chaetocnema laticolHs. 



Chatocnema laticollis, Baly, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1877, p. 316 1 . 

 Hob. Nicaeagua, Chon tales {Janson). — % Austealia K 



In no way whatever does the type in Mr. Baly's collection differ from the specimens 

 obtained by Janson, and I must therefore conclude that Mr. Baly has been mistaken in 

 the locality of his insects. The thorax in this species is very broad and has a small 

 oblique groove placed on each side of the base. There is absolutely not the slightest 

 difference to be found between the type and the Nicaraguan specimens, but it cannot 

 be supposed that identical species may be found in Central America and Western 

 Australia. 



Posterior claw-joint swollen. 

 a. Anterior coxal cavities open. 



With this division of the Halticinee we commence a series of genera which all possess 

 to a greater or less degree the peculiarity of an inflated posterior claw-joint, the 

 «' Physapodes " of Illiger or the " (Edionychinae " of Chapuis. In the first subsection are 

 placed those genera in which the elytra are not punctate-striate and the anterior coxal 

 cavities open — the reverse being the case with the " CEdipodes," which have, however, 

 the swollen claw-joint in common. Herr von Harold, in his ' Coleopterologische Hefte,' 

 has endeavoured to define at length and more accurately those genera which fall into the 

 present section, and his explanations concerning them are, in my opinion, very acceptable 

 to the student of this most difficult group. It is of course to be expected that instances 

 occur which set classification almost at defiance, on account of gradual modification of 

 structural characters which do not allow certain forms to be placed, without doubt, in 

 one or another given genus whose stability is rarely questioned by the author at the 

 time. For instance, many species of the " Physapodes " are known to me, described or 

 otherwise, which it would be rash to place in either the genus Asphcera (with elongate 

 posterior metatarsus) or in (Edionychis (in which the same part is generally short), these 

 species showing intermediate degrees not only in that but in other respects ; but in most 

 instances the present classification seems to be the most convenient and rational one. 



Species of " Physapodes " have not only been found throughout all parts of North, 

 South, and Central America, but the Old World has likewise contributed to their 

 number, although up to the present time by but a very limited number of species. 



